The Death Penalty

O'connor Adds Voice To Demands For Swifter Justice

November 16, 1994

Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor spoke common sense about the death penalty during her visit to the College of William and Mary on Monday. O'Connor said the appeals process for death row inmates takes too long.

Amen.

O'Connor isn't the only person to decry this situation. Chief Justice William Rehnquist has complained loudly about the inefficiency of the appeals process. Attorney General Janet Reno has said the long delay between conviction and execution makes a mockery of the law.

Nationally, that delay averages nearly 10 years. The time lag is a direct result of a complex appeals process in which cases can be bounced around state and federal courts with, as O'Connor noted, appeals sometimes being made to the Supreme Court in the final hours before a prisoner's scheduled execution.

Such a process isn't fair to anyone, not the judges, the families of victims or even the criminals. Judges deserve an opportunity to pass judgment on such weighty issues free of time pressure. The families of victims deserve closure; they should not have to wait years for justice after guilt has been established. And even killers deserve some measure of certainty about their fate, an opportunity for final reflection unaffected by any hope that they can escape society's punishment.

And while it may seem crude, the issue of cost must also be considered. With the price of incarcerating death row prisoners topping $35,000 a year, taxpayers are having to spend millions of dollars to house killers who are using frivolous appeals to delay justice.

Congress should listen to Justices Rehnquist, O'Connor and the public by acting to tighten the appeals process. The problem is not new and is not beyond solving.